Truth exposed: 'Nude Beach' is just a dessert

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

GARDEN CITY - The following news may disappoint pimply teens and relieve priggish townsfolk, but it's time to expose the naked truth:

Bear Lake's "Nude Beach" isn't.

Turns out that large sign on Garden City's South Bear Lake Boulevard inviting skinny-dippers and voyeurs alike to "Experience a Nude Beach Today" isn't advertising an in-the-raw retreat.

It's just a marketing tease touting a dessert at the Bear Lake Pizza Factory.

The eatery's owner, Bill England, and son Clint were experimenting in the kitchen one day back in 2003 when they realized their concoction - melding melted caramel, brown sugar and marshmallows with Snickers bars - resembled an earth-toned beach.

Ah, the "Nude Beach" was born.

But the dessert pizza didn't catch on until this summer when waitress Katy Hobbs took 3-inch plastic letters out front and posted her titillating phrase.

Result: a 50 percent boost in sales and Hobbs winning 2006 employee of the year.

"We have had one or two people make negative comments, until they understand what it is," says England, who has labored in the restaurant industry for 40 years. "It has worked very well. It's been very catchy, and we sell a lot of them."

Waitress Rachel White gets several inquiries a day about the location of the Nude Beach.

The truth comes as a letdown to some men, she notes, but the women typically take it well.

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